we saw that...

UPDATED possible film school to locate in alexandria's district 3

a blurb at the end of a billy gunn piece in this morning's gannett/alexandria daily town talk got our attention:

Mayor Jacques M. Roy and Councilman Jerry Jones Jr. announced a possible teaming of the city with actress and producer Faith Ford and her husband, Campion Murphy, who also is in the film business. The couple lives in Pineville, where Ford is from.

The endeavor would train television and film crews needed to produce programs in Central Louisiana.

The company owned by Ford and Murphy has been coined "Alexis Crew Productions," but has not yet registered its incorporation with the state, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State's website.

we see the obvious political intrigue. we were surprised that jules green did as well as he did in the election. 

councilman jerry jones is widely viewed as mayor roy's puppet to cure that perception we expected them to stage a falling out so that councilman jones could establish his independence. apparently they both felt they needed to go to film school first in order to pull that off.

even so we prefer this carrot-n-stick approach because a film school would be an enhancement to the community. it would be good for the blogosphere and online community as well. if anyone could take a class to learn how to film, produce and post online, say, public meetings like a teevee show. then a school like that would provide the public with knowledge and information of real value.

sooner rather than later and one way or another, the louisiana supreme court is gonna have to bow to common sense, technology, public pressure or a constitutional amendment and finally provide for the recording and live streaming of court room proceedings. that channel would get some ratings.

so our initial impression over the film school is that it would be a plus.

others have their own ideas like mr. jules green who phoned in to ksyl's talkback preshow w/ fred & bob this morning to invoke unpleasant memories of the bonnie and clyde film.

you can listen to mr. green's call for yourself here.

he did mention that the city is obligating itself to put up to $50,000 in money and/or services -- info that mr. gunn conveniently left out of his report.

questions that remain unanswered so far are: if councilman jones loses to mr. green will there still be a film school located someplace else or is it all or nothing?
is the film school even viable or is just a hoax to get councilman jones reelected? (remember the hotel bentley sale and downtown condos hoax from several years ago?) would the mayor pull out all the stops and create a hoax to get a councilman that he controls reelected? yeah probably - but on the other hand what does ms. ford stand to gain by participating in a political hoax?

this is what we believe - we believe that ms. ford and her husband want to open a film school and this provides a pretty good plan.

whether the district 3 location is dependent on an all or nothing vote for councilman jones remains to be seen.

anyway, earlier we tweeted ms. ford and asked her to add our email address to any press release list they have; she tweeted back that she would. if we receive anything we'll post it. you can always follow and tweet her yourself @faith_ford.
wst... note we began drafting this post early this morning when we first read the gannett/town talk report and added to it as the morning progressed. we dont know anything more about this project than what we've disclosed here. we have emailed councilman jones and city attorney charles johnson and asked if the film school is planned to be located within district 3 and for a copy of whatever was introduced on tuesday that mr. green was on about. if we receive a response we'll post it.

UPDATE: alexandria city attorney charles johnson replied tentatively:

To date, there are no documents responsive to your request other than the title of the prospective ordinance. I will forward a copy of the titled introduction. The actual draft of the ordinance has not been completed.

UPDATE-2 email from city attorney charles johnson:

Find enclosed the document responsive to your request. The media piece you forwarded does not accurately state what the mayor said at the council meeting. We will send a copy of the full ordinance once completed. It will be near the date set for final adoption.

remember this is just a preamble-- the final ordinance is being ironed out. nowhere does it say or suggest that the mayor is about to hand over $50,000 of the taxpayers money to the alexis crew productions principals.

it's likely that any taxpayer funds expended will be in the form of inkind value.

such that probably any neighborhood that ms. ford placed her school in would benefit.

maybe there'll be some public discussion about it.